“Apart from the horror of it, that fire was a most wonderful sight. Of course, on the prairie you can see for an enormous distance, and for thirty or forty miles there was nothing but flames. How thankful we were the fire reached us in the morning and not at night!”
When next the diarist took up her pen, it was to record interesting domestic details: “We muster fifteen at present—quite a big family to cater and cook for. My little ones are quite happy, the Canadian baby being especially bonny, and thriving splendidly. The town site is all surveyed, and the Government has decided to grant a plot to every colonist who cares to apply for it. Mr. Rendall, Barnes, and I have each got one, and we intend erecting a little store of our own for the disposal of our dairy produce. We are hoping to get two or three more cows soon. Everyone likes our butter, made in the old Devonshire fashion. I have been for a drive to-day, and the town is growing very, very fast, dozens of little shacks springing up all round. There are two large general stores, two restaurants, the post office, a butcher’s shop, and a blacksmith’s, all within twenty minutes’ walk of Doris Court.”
On December 10th Mrs. Rendall wrote: “Everything is going ahead now with amazing rapidity. We have been fortunate in having most glorious weather—continuous sunshine from day to day and hard frost at night. Our clergyman, Mr. Lloyd, is a very musical man, and every Wednesday holds a choir practice at his own house. The first hour is devoted to music for the following Sunday service, after which we have secular quartets, trios, duets, and solos—all the best music he can muster. He has now formed a musical union. I need scarcely say I have joined, and I thoroughly enjoy the practices, they are so splendidly conducted. We really have a very fine choir. Every Thursday evening there is either a concert or a debate on some popular and instructive topic. It has been decided to erect a structure which for the time being will serve as a church, a school, and a recreation-room. Everyone is giving a log (it is, of course, to be built of logs), and the name of each donor is to be engraved thereon by his or her own hand. All the labour of erecting the building is to be done voluntarily, different persons having promised one or two days’, or in some cases a week’s, work.
“Progress is indeed remarkable. With regard to our choral union, the idea is for all the places round about, such as Battleford and Onion Lake, to form branches and practise the same music, so that from time to time we can have a meeting of the massed choir. Our choir has already been invited to Onion Lake, which is thirty-six miles away. The whole party is to go in sleighs, of which the colony now has a supply. We use them with our wagon-boxes. It is a delightful sensation to be gliding over the snow, which is not soft as in England, but hard and crisp.
“Everyone is in great excitement just now, because we have to elect an overseer (the same as our English mayor), and canvassing is going on pretty smartly. So, with one thing and another, we are quite busy. The little ones are all well, happy, and growing very rapidly. My wee Canadian is the happiest baby I have ever seen. Mr. Rendall has just bought a piece of land, consisting of 320 acres, adjoining our homestead. When the railway comes, that land will be very valuable. We have bought a one-year-old calf for $11, with a ton of hay thrown in.”
After giving an account of enjoyable social gatherings and frolics at Christmas and New Year’s Eve, our chronicler added: “We are most amused at the reports that reach us from England as to the terrible plight we are in, even to the verge of starvation! As a matter of fact we are quite happy and contented, and very much better off in every way than we were in England. As for food, we certainly live as well as ever we did. There are now two butchers in the town. Our meat is delivered at the door, and is of the very best quality. Certainly we have had difficulties to surmount and hardships to endure, but we quite expected them when we left England; and at that time we treasured up a reserve fund of determination and pluck which stood us in good stead when the need came. I would never advise anyone to come out here who is the least afraid of work—they are better off at home. There is plenty of room to breathe in this country, and if the work is hard, the freedom—which is the inevitable attribute of the life here—makes one far less susceptible to physical fatigue than one was in the old country, where there is a feeling of weighty oppression to handicap one’s energies. Here one feels that each week’s work is a step onwards, while ten years’ hard toil in Devonshire brought nothing but disappointment and additional anxiety.
“There is no doubt whatever that Lloydminster bids fair to become a very important centre. Its growth week by week is marvellous. The Government are now erecting a large immigration hall in anticipation of the arrival of new-comers in the spring. Meetings are being held now to discuss and perfect arrangements for receiving expected friends and families and ensure their safe conduct right up to the colony.
“So far we have passed through the winter splendidly, and up to the time of writing (January 19th) we have brilliant sunshine from one week’s end to another. Our bungalow is kept beautifully warm. We have a good supply of wood from our own land, and so the price of coal is an item over which we have no need to worry. We have to pay very dearly for flour—$4½ for 100 lb. It is of course freightage that makes things dear. It is expected that the railway will be here and working in a year from now, and then everything will be cheaper. The telegraph will be in working order in a few weeks’ time. We have two large general stores, a drug store, and a resident doctor, with a hospital in view. Our choral union now numbers 120 members, and a rifle corps is being formed with 160 names enrolled. At the time of writing there are twenty-eight degrees of frost, and those who have been outside say it is a bit nippy. If we do not take proper precautions to protect our noses and ears, we are liable to get them frost-bitten.
“The land here is of splendid quality and fit to grow anything, being specially adapted for mixed farming. And when I remember all these things, I cannot help smiling to think of those in the old country who have been commiserating our lot. They have far greater need for pity than we, for while they are still plodding and hibernating, we are on the progressive, and are probably making greater headway in twelve months than they in as many years. For Canada is nothing if not a go-ahead country.”
From this point, probably because of superior claims upon her attention, Mrs. Rendall allowed a long break to occur in her instructive record of a settler’s experiences. When, several months later, she resumed the narrative, it was to say: “Much has happened since I last wrote, and I hardly know where to begin. Lloydminster is quite a little town. The railway is here, and the station is a pretty addition to our buildings. Little did I think that the whistle of an engine would ever sound so sweet! The passenger service is not properly organised yet, and the line is still in the hands of the construction party. But as soon as the line is entirely completed, and it is handed over to the Canadian Northern Railway Company, we shall have a regular service.